


when you're ready

by invoked_duplicity



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: (regarding Molly and his fighting style), Canon-Typical Violence, Confessions, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-06
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2020-04-11 16:27:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19113439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/invoked_duplicity/pseuds/invoked_duplicity
Summary: Caleb knows that Molly is attracted to him. What he doesn't understand is why Molly doesn't act on it at all.





	when you're ready

Caleb isn’t sure how it happened, even though he knows exactly when it started.

What he knows is this:

Mollymauk has been flirting with him. Caleb knows this because he has watched him for a very long time, flirting with other people, winking, swishing his tail playfully, licking his lips when he is interested in someone. Caleb has catalogued every movement, every expression, every dip of Mollymauk’s voice when he speaks with someone he finds attractive.

His memory is flawless.

So when Mollymauk’s voice dips lower when he tells Caleb that his newest spell in impressive, Caleb _knows_. It’s in the way Mollymauk’s eyes linger on his face and how he smiles–almost absentmindedly–when he watches Caleb read in the corner of an inn while everyone else is drinking and having fun.

What Caleb also knows is:

Mollymauk always goes for what he wants. So it doesn’t make any sense that he would simply keep looking and smiling and flirting without ever getting physical. Without ever making innuendo that would suggest the two of them having sex. Mollymauk is very careful about the way he touches Caleb and it’s never suggestive. Never makes Caleb uncomfortable—as if Mollymauk has done all the calculations, has catalogued Caleb’s reactions to being touched in different ways, and then proceeds to stay in his lane.

Mollymauk Tealeaf, by definition of his very being, never stays in his lane.

Except when it comes to Caleb Widogast, it seems.

Caleb is a very smart man, but he has no idea what is going on. He’s able to understand the most complicated concepts, the most difficult types of magic, mathematical equations, elaborate grammatical structures of languages long dead. But he cannot for the life of him figure out one chaotic disaster of a Tiefling.

At this point, Caleb is sure he understands Jester better than he understands Mollymauk, and that is a feat he never hoped to accomplish when they first started traveling together.

It has been almost 15 months since Mollymauk came back from the grave a second time. It has been almost 14 months since Mollymauk started flirting with Caleb.

And in those 14 months not once has he tried to kiss Caleb, or put his clawed hands on Caleb’s thighs, or pushed him into a wall again, like he did so long ago in those catacombs.

It took Caleb 6 months to understand that he is, in fact, helplessly in love with Mollymauk Tealeaf.

But Caleb is still Caleb.

And of course it takes drastic measures to push Caleb over the edge.

What happens is this:

For all his work with fire, Caleb is still helpless when confronted with it. He throws flames around like it is nothing, he builds walls of fire and throws flaming spheres across battlefields. His own fire never burns him, but other people are just as adapt as him sometimes.

So when the flaming strike shoots towards him Caleb thinks for just a second that it is poetic justice that he is going to die just like his parents did. He can hear the twin screams of Jester and Beauregard.

Then a body wraps around him, a familiar, solid body covered in scars. Soft hair tickles him in the face for just a moment as Mollymauk—stupid, impulsive, self sacrificial Mollymauk Tealeaf—puts himself between Caleb and the flames.

Caleb’s panic engulfs him like a raging storm when the heat gets almost unbearable, but Mollymauk is still standing, still hugging Caleb close to his chest, as if his life depended on it. His brain is short circuiting, he can feel the panic creeping at the back of his mind when he smells burning flesh, but his brain also provides him with one completely ridiculous fact:

This is the first time Mollymauk has _hugged_ him.

When the flames stop coming Mollymauk shudders around him and his grip loosens, before he stumbles to his knees.

“Mollymauk”, Caleb rasps. “What on—”

“Tiefling”, Mollymauk croaks and has the audacity to wink at Caleb. “Fire resistance, darling.”

Then he falls unconscious.

Caleb’s mind goes blank, because no, not again, not again, not _again_ , not for _him_ of all people.

Beauregard kills the man who threw fire at him with her bare hands. Caleb knows that he should probably fall into his catatonic state right now because of the smell and the sight of Mollymauk’s burned skin and–

Caleb has to ask him. He will not allow Mollymauk to die _yet again_ , because how often can they tempt fate and bring people back from the dead? Caleb cannot know for sure, so he _has to ask_. He needs to know. He wants to understand.

He is there when Mollymauk opens his eyes the next day. The pale sunlight filtering through the milky windows makes his purple skin look strangely pale. Caleb looks at all the faint, thin scars on his upper torso, his neck, his arms. What a reckless way of fighting, he thinks, to hurt yourself in favor of making someone else suffer.

To hurt yourself so others might get away.

Caleb swallows.

“Hey, Mr Caleb”, Mollymauk says with an almost smile. “You ok?”

Caleb scoffs.

“I did not get burned to a crisp.”

“Funny how that works, huh?”

Caleb stares at him.

“Why?”, he asks bluntly. Before he can chicken out again, he has to ask. Mollymauk blinks at him slowly and it reminds Caleb so much of Frumpkin that he feels a smile tug at his lips. Damn it. He is so painfully in love with this ridiculous man, he almost can’t bear it.

Almost.

“Well, I told you, Mr Caleb. I’m fire resistant–”

“No. That is not what I mean. Why—why do you… What do you _want_ from me, Mollymauk?”

It sounds harsher than Caleb had anticipated and he can see Mollymauk’s face fall. He watches as Mollymauk swallows and turns his head away, then takes a deep, controlled breath before his red eyes find Caleb’s face.

“Ah”, he says and manages a crooked smile. “We’re talking about that now, huh?”

“You almost died. Again. I feel like it is foolish not to speak about those things if you might just be dead again tomorrow.”

Molly nods slowly and swallows again. 

“To be honest, I’m not sure what you want to hear. I know that you know how I feel about you. So what exactly is it that you want to talk about?”

Caleb’s heart stumbles in his chest and he balls his hands into fists.

“I—Why? Why do you—what—”

“Caleb”, Mollymauk says and Caleb stops his stuttering. He closes his mouth and it costs him every drop if willpower to keep his eyes on Mollymauk’s face.

“I’ll say this once, ok? Because honestly, telling the truth is just exhausting, but I guess I can manage for you. I am very much in love with you, Mr Caleb. Maybe you think that’s ridiculous, maybe you even think I’m not that bad, maybe you don’t care at all. Who knows. I certainly don’t! But I know what kind of guy you are, yeah? I know you have… your baggage. That’s fine with me. All I’m saying is. I’m here. If, or you know. _When_ you’re ready.”

Caleb stares at him. He’s not sure he heard correctly.

“You—I—”

“Yes. Also, don’t think about complaining because I saved your life. You can just buy me a drink or two. I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Don’t tell Beau I told you so, or she’ll hit me again.”

Caleb feels like he should comment on Mollymauk’s confession. Say anything. But his throat is dry and his heart is hammering in his chest so hard, Caleb is sure it might just fly out of his rib cage. Damn this ridiculous man.

Maybe he can just tell Mollymauk that he doesn’t mind the flirting. That he is in fact in love with Mollymauk as well. Because Mollymauk doesn’t know and still he flirts and he is _waiting_.

The corners of his eyes are burning and none of those words come out.

“I will… I will get back to you with… with that”, he croaks and it’s definitely the most stupid answer to a love confession the world has ever seen. Shame washes over Caleb like a tidal wave. But Mollymauk smiles at him.

“That’s fine, Mr Caleb. When you’re ready”, he repeats. 

“When I’m… Ja. Ja, ok.”


End file.
